OP, where did the word stereoscopic come from? All this picture is saying is that the over world will be top down, which we already knew.

What you're saying as that it won't be 'stereoscopic 3D' in the over world, which is the effect when you push up the 3D slider on your 3DS. Is that what you meant to imply? Why would they make only parts of the game look 3D?

I can't read Japanese so I'm not arguing whether its true or not, but stereoscopic basically requires rendering the frame twice. So if they didn't want to lower the graphic power or the frame rate, they might decide stereo 3D isn't worth it.

Essentially, the graphic rendering style for the overworld is expected to be a layer-based system. So supposedly there isn't a way for the 3DS to render out two slightly different images to simulate 3D in the overworld.

Here's my train of thought.

If this was that big of a deal for gameplay, then it definitely would have been complained about by those who played the demo.

I'm always getting used to the 3D feature, so I have to turn it off and back on to notice how cool it is. I leave it off half the time anyway.

So I really don't see anything awful if it's true that the overworld isn't stereoscopic. Though it is a tiny bit disappointing. I know that there's loads of great things about X and Y, like the huge 1.7 GB of content it contains, and the largest amount of dialogue ever to be in a Pokémon game. Also, mega evolutions, in-battle 3D, Pokémon Bank, etc.

This is super simplified so that almost anyone can understand the whole 3D shebang.

So, the way the overworld (non-battle, running around town action) is rendered (created into an image or frame that you see on the 3DS) isn't like a 3D model. The overworld's seperate pieces, like each character and building, are rendered in seperate layers instead. Think of 3D models as clay sculptures and layers as a collage.

For a 3D effect to be created, two seperate images are required. Both are very similar, but some objects are shifted more to the right or left compared to the other. Why? This gives the illusion of depth. Your eyes perceive depth in terms of how different the image your left eye is creating from your right eye.

Experiment: put your hand about 10 cm away from your face. Now, wink or cover up your right eye so you're only seeing things with your left. Then, switch your winked eye or hand to your left so you're only seeing with your right eye. Try switching back and forth quickly between them to compare their diffferences.

You'll notice that your eyes make different images because they're in different positions, a noselength apart. Your brain combines these to give you depth perception, or the ability to compare the distance an object is from your eyes.

So, the 3DS will have to create (render) two seperate images whose objects are positioned differently for each eye. Now let's talk about why you can render 3D imagery from 3D models but not always layers.

Think of 3D models as clay, and the 3DS rendering engine (program that makes the on-screen visuals from the game cartridge data) as two cameras: one that takes pictures from the left and one from the right, one for each eye. So when the two images of the clay sculpture are shown from the 3DS, your eyes will pick up depth because the cameras have slightly different views of the sculptures that mimic the difference your eyes would have picked up if you saw the direct physical clay sculpture. Cutscenes and the battle scenes are like the clay models because the Pokémon themselves are 3D and can be rotated 360 degrees, so each of the two "cameras" can easily get differently tilted "pictures" from the model.

Now, think of the layer-based system as a collage, where many still printed photographs and papers are layed on top of eachother to make a 2D picture, what's called a "flat image". Unlike your hand or the clay model, a still flat image from head-on doesn't look any different if you look at it from different eyes, i.e., no depth.

The overworld is [according to this rumor] just this: layers and layers of different objects rather than one big 3D model. Technically, they're many 3D models (a red hat, the player, the floor) treated like flat 2D images layed on top of eachother (the red hat goes on top of the player, and the player is put on top of the floor). This isn't a very good rendering style, since they're a lot of potentially 3D things flattened into 2D then layered.

The overworld is in 3D, but there's no depth. Depth being displayed on the 3DS is called stereoscopic 3D. In other words, the overworld is in 3D since the models are rendered in 3D before being layered, but because the final piece is a 2D layer, it's not stereoscopic.

You hopefully get what I was saying about 3D and 2D and rendering. Now, I'm not hugely disappointed by this lack of stereoscopic 3D because:

If the lack of stereoscopy was a thing or even a problem, we would have heard a plethora of complaints from the many players that played the demo of X and Y at conventions.

Stereoscopic 3D is balancing on a fence between the lawns of gimmick and useful immersive game aspect. I find myself turning off 3D half of the time to rest my eyes and to later appreciate the game better as soon as
I turn the 3D back on.

So, GameFreak technically could/should/will have a 3D overworld. They seem to be not too high-end in their graphics department, so it wouldn't surprise nor disappoint me if this part of the game isn't stereoscopic. It's just a matter of how they take the pictures.

from what i heard, because i don't speak or read japanese, is that there will be no 3d except in battles and cutscenes, and when i tried to find out more info, it meant no stereoscopic 3d. i posted it because it's news and stuff. your guess is as good as mine.

this is a good post for discussion. 3d is a gimmick that i doubt will take off enough to really make a difference in sales. if it turns out there is no 3d in certain parts, i won't be disappointed. it hurts my eyes. i can really only stand it for a few minutes.

Everything is shown from a mostly fixed angle in the overworld, so 3D would just be kinda cool but not amazing. In battles, the camera drifts around and changes angles for different attacks, so the 3D adds a cool effect.

wtf if this is true that's just bullshit why leave out 3D in the overworld it just means every time a zubat or whatever jumps out at me my vision is gonna be fucked for a couple of seconds as my eyes keep adjusting

True. If this is real I'm gonna be so fucking bummed. I can't imagine why they would do this... I love the 3d, it's a 3ds game, why make it a jarring experience by doing this? Fuck. So pissed right now. :(

The thing is anyone who dislikes the 3d HAS THE OPTION to turn it off, so there's no issue for them. For those who buy 3D games for a 3D system and don't get even the option... That really sucks. Especially for the game we've all been hyped on for so long.

I wonder if the 3d thing will continue onto other systems, or if this is just a current "Gimmick" (better than a usual gimmick for sure though). It would be kind of neat if they kept the handheld line 3d.

Meh, I wasn't planning on using the 3D anyway. The effect is cool at first, but it gets old quick and the decrease framerate and the fact that it messes it up the 3D if I move my head slightly make it not as enjoyable for me.

bottom right where it says 3D. i can't read japanese but apparently that is what it says according to people on 4chan. i'd love to have someone here confirm so i'm not just posting lies. i'm really just going on the word of the internet.

It's already been confirmed that the stereoscopic 3D is only in battles in the demo. Surprised so many people are just now finding out.

And to the people that will inevitably say "But that's the demo so it could have just been left out". Why would they leave the big feature of the 3DS out of the demo of one of their biggest franchises? If it was going to be there, chances are it would be in the demo.

Well, it could be as simple as it didn't fit their plans aesthetically. They may have played around with it and just decided it wasn't what they wanted to do. This is the most likely scenario in my opinion.

It could also be that some of the areas push the limits of the hardware and using the stereoscopic 3D in those areas would result in bad performance. So they just opted to cut it out for consistency. I highly doubt it, but you never know.

Of course, it could just be left out in the demo. But like I said previously, it wouldn't make much sense to leave it out. Especially since the demo is intended to give people an idea of what to expect. Raising doubt about a feature like that obviously isn't a great business decision(as these reactions have shown).

We'll probably never know, but I don't think it's really that big of a deal. I would have liked to see it just for the sake of seeing it, but it doesn't really bug me. The battles are where I want the effect, and odds are that interesting scenes will still have it, too.

Erm. You don't have to slide it up and down... When the effect is disabled, it just deactivates. If you leave it up, it'll work when you enter a battle or scene where it's available and be disabled when you exit such a scene.

Pokemon are really the main feature of Pokemon, and Pokemon are for catching more than anything else (bug collecting is what inspired Pokemon in the first place), but battling has always been the biggest feature after collecting.

But still, collecting all the Pokemon involves wild Pokemon battles for the most part, meaning that battles have always been one of the centerpieces to the games.

It's easy to write off if you haven't grown accustomed to it. It took me a while but now I always use it full blast and love it. It's hard for me to play 2d and not feel disappointed. I imagine a good portion of the millions of 3ds owners feel similar.